A Disguised Scum Alpha Marked Her Aloof Ex-Wife - Chapter 22

She should have questioned her, interrogated her, confined her completely within her grasp.

Ordered her to answer every doubt that had troubled Bai Shuzhou for so long, disciplined her into offering an oath of submission, and then exchanged that for a sliver of survival.

On the way here, Bai Shuzhou had thought a great deal. Only by remaining indifferent could she make the correct decision. In this world filled with lies, she had long since seen too much betrayal and exploitation.

Yet at this very moment, holding the wounded and battered Zhu Yu in her arms, she only used those same words from before and gave her another chance, waiting for a reason.

Now, do you have anything you want to say to me?

Zhu Yu gripped Bai Shuzhou’s hand tightly and struggled to organize her chaotic thoughts. The drug’s effects made her unable to stop trembling, and she spilled everything about the phoenix like beans pouring from a tube.

The Royal Academy of Sciences had always been conducting human experiments, even though it was explicitly forbidden. As a fellow ability user, Zhu Yu naturally felt fear and anger toward such things.

The surgical marks on Bai Shuzhou’s body were very similar to the phoenix’s.

“Are you an ability user too?” Zhu Yu asked very softly, afraid the others would hear, and also as if she wanted to seek out a little shared secret.

Then what about you?

Were you once treated that way too?

Bai Shuzhou’s tail lashed heavily.

This was not the answer she wanted to hear. Moreover, Zhu Yu currently had no right to ask her questions.

After a short silence, Bai Shuzhou waited for her to continue. But Zhu Yu only stared at her without blinking, her vision damp with physiological tears, separated by a hazy layer of mist.

Bai Shuzhou asked coldly, “And?”

Zhu Yu noticed her gaze lower slightly. She froze, then immediately raised her hand and tugged the ring up for Bai Shuzhou to see, saying dully, “I wanted to return the ring to you before, but I couldn’t take it off. I’m sorry.”

A moment ago, under everyone’s gaze, she had raised this ring high, lifting up the dignity and glory of the Empire along with it. But now, she was being careful, squeezing out a smile.

Bai Shuzhou frowned.

The way Zhu Yu was so eager to return it made it seem as though she wanted to free herself from something. She apologized too much, dividing them into two clearly separated sides, revealing a cautious distance.

Not a single word was pleasant to hear.

Did she have to tie her up before she would speak properly?

Bai Shuzhou had no choice but to make it clear. She touched Zhu Yu’s lips, forcing her to raise her head and meet Bai Shuzhou’s eyes.

“And you? What exactly are you thinking?”

Her tone was very faint, without much emotional fluctuation. Yet the gentle scent of roses brushed across Zhu Yu’s cheek with her breath.

Softly.

Those cosmetically covered wounds, the faint scent of blood Bai Shuzhou smelled when they embraced at close range—pain that had been endured for so long seemed to become even more vivid because it had been seen. What seeped out was no longer blood, but tears.

Zhu Yu blinked. From the slight rise at the end of the woman’s voice, she caught a trembling ripple. After chewing it over repeatedly, it became a little sweetness. That drifting, unsettled heart could finally carefully fall.

And bury itself in Bai Shuzhou’s warm arm.

“Sister, I missed you so much.”

It was not a complaint.

Not a plea of suffering.

Only, I missed you so much.

“I knew you wouldn’t abandon me!”

Her tone was very certain, but the hand gripping Bai Shuzhou’s sleeve was still trembling from using too much strength.

The heat of her breath and her burning tears were squeezed out from her chest, damp beyond reason.

The affairs of the imperial capital had been authorized to Feng Jiyan to handle. Bai Shuzhou knew nothing about that ransom letter. She did not understand why such a change had appeared in Zhu Yu.

Clearly, they had only been apart for half a day.

Clearly, Zhu Yu was the one who had insisted on staying behind.

Clearly, she and the Federation were entangled unclear…

With a soft sigh, Bai Shuzhou asked hoarsely, “When they hit you, did you not know to dodge?”

Usually, Zhu Yu looked very obedient and understood how to protect herself. Bai Shuzhou did not want her to shine by burning herself.

Too foolish.

Bai Shuzhou covered Zhu Yu’s burning gland with one finger, trying to guide her chaotic mental power back onto the right track. But the moment her cold fingertip touched Zhu Yu, the red flush on Zhu Yu’s face layered over itself, spreading all the way to the tips of her ears. She timidly shrank backward.

She was flustered and did not dare look at Bai Shuzhou, afraid those offensive thoughts would be discovered.

That light touch made the already crooked building collapse in an instant. That trace of rose fragrance followed her skin and drilled into her gland. Her heart slammed violently against her chest, as if something were about to break free of its shackles.

Someone approached.

The Snow Leopard Knights had already arrived. Working together with Izelia, they quickly took control of the auction hall and tried to separate them.

The emperor had given two orders. First, for the Snow Leopard Knights to bring Bai Shuzhou back. Second, for Izelia to investigate the truth behind the disappearance incident that day.

“Your Highness, the medical team is already in place. We will look after her properly,” the Snow Leopard Knight Captain bowed, her respectful words carrying a trace of firmness. “His Majesty is still waiting for you.”

Agreeing to let Bai Shuzhou attend this auction had already been outside the plan.

The young woman, whose expression was muddled, anxiously grabbed Bai Shuzhou’s fingertips and tried hard to bite her words clearly.

“I am Zhu Yu. Zhu as in blessing, Yu as in abundance year after year.”

“This name comes from The Classic of Mountains and Seas. It’s the name of a medicinal herb. Once eaten, one won’t go hungry.”

This sudden self-introduction made Bai Shuzhou’s brow jump sharply. She raised a finger and sealed Zhu Yu’s lips.

“Be quiet. Say it again when you’re sober.”

Since she would not let go, the Knight Captain signaled for the medical team to come over. Nearby, they cleared the area, opened a silver suitcase, and all kinds of medicines steamed coldly.

The corners of Bai Shuzhou’s eyes were faintly red. She had clearly been affected by Zhu Yu’s pheromones. The scent of roses lingered faintly in her hair, and her icy expression softened slightly. Still, she remained calm as she gave commands.

How to handle the victims and captives, public opinion, diplomatic affairs—every arrangement was precise and sharp.

Izelia watched with surging excitement, her tail raised very high. Although she had just been ambushed and bound by vines, she did not care at all. The scene of the silver dragon spreading her wings reflected in her golden eyes, instead drawing out her nature of admiring strength.

Yes. She understood completely!

Her Highness was protecting the dignity of an Empire soldier, even if that soldier was an ex-wife who had once harmed her!

What a great spirit.

What beautiful, powerful wings!

This was the Bai Shuzhou in Izelia’s memory. Proud, clever, with even the greatest honor only worth the faint curve of her lips.

But Bai Shuzhou’s cool voice was hoarse. Her silver hair scattered over the shoulder of the young woman in her arms. When the final sentence fell, she paused subtly, swallowing a brief breath.

Zhu Yu was buried in her arms, tightly clutching the corner of her clothes. That pitiful yet arrogant posture fell into Izelia’s eyes and became blatant provocation and humiliation.

Izelia nearly ground her teeth to pieces.

But Bai Shuzhou suddenly lifted her eyes and crooked a finger at her.

Her golden pupils lit up. Izelia happily leaned forward. The Knight Captain tried to remind her to maintain social distance from the princess, but Izelia directly shoved her away.

Zhu Yu was already lying in her arms. Why should Izelia still pay attention?

It was not as if the Knight Captain dared to go up and forcibly drag Zhu Yu out.

“Izelia, go catch the fish that slipped through the net. This auction house has other passages.” Bai Shuzhou gently patted Zhu Yu’s trembling back, then lifted her eyes toward the highest private room. Her voice was cold.

“But His Majesty ordered me to bring Zhu Yu back. I can’t allow her to stay with you,” Izelia said, scratching her head in distress. This was a legitimate reason.

“Only you can do this,” Bai Shuzhou said, fixing her gaze on her. “I want them alive.”

As expected, she was the person Bai Shuzhou trusted most!

The big tiger proudly raised her head and puffed out her chest, immediately answering, “As you command!”

Bai Shuzhou added, “Also, I will personally interrogate Zhu Yu. Clear out a confinement room.”

Izelia, who had just been full of satisfaction, froze. The Knight Captain’s expression instantly became very ugly as well.

“Your Highness, Zhu Yu’s suspicions have yet to be cleared. This is too dangerous!”

Those icy vertical pupils lightly glanced at her.

The Knight Captain gritted her teeth and reluctantly compromised. “At least allow us to inject her with an inhibitor first and stabilize her condition.”

This was not a discussion.

The woman raised a hand, and attendants immediately came forward to hold Zhu Yu down. A special Alpha inhibitor was taken out.

But the young woman, who had already begun to calm in Bai Shuzhou’s arms, started struggling violently the instant she saw the silver needle. She curled up in fear, covering the back of her neck.

Her vision gradually collapsed, leaving only a blurry patch of light. Her body instinctively shrank back, dodging an attack that did not exist.

During the sensitive period, all senses and emotions were infinitely magnified.

Fractus flowed backward through her blood, cutting her chaotic thoughts into pieces.

An icy pure-white room, empty enough to suffocate.

An endless abyss of darkness, the feeling of weightlessness dragging her into an eternal fall…

The scarlet [Rejected] on the large screen.

The unconcealed coldness and disgust in those pale blue eyes, then their disappearance.

“Don’t go…”

A broken sob caught in her throat, her voice so weak even she herself could not hear it.

Don’t go. Don’t go. Please…

Don’t hate me.

Don’t leave me alone.

Please!

Her out-of-control mental power crashed through her narrow meridians, almost tearing flesh and blood apart.

Cold sweat soaked her thin clothes. Physiological tears silently ran down her cheeks.

Zhu Yu wanted very much to cry aloud and beg, but this world seemed separated from her by a thin barrier. Even if she screamed with all her strength, no one could hear her.

Strange and familiar, all the faceless people walked farther and farther away, eventually becoming tiny black dots.

She pinched her wrist hard, nails sinking into flesh, trying to use this insignificant pain to drag herself back from the nightmare of nothingness.

Yet her fingertips passed uselessly through her other arm, through her burning cheek, and even failed to touch the heart in her chest that was beating wildly and yet seemed as though it could stop at any moment.

She could no longer feel her own existence.

In an instant, she fell ten thousand meters.

The boundless universe fell into thunderous silence.

Zhu Yu, Zhu Yu.

Zhu Yu!

An icy yet exceptionally powerful hand pierced through the viscous darkness, precise and unquestionable, gripping the nearly dissipated her.

Zhu Yu froze stiffly, her whole body trembling.

A tiny cinnabar mole, red as blood, suddenly lit up in her blurred vision.

Whoosh!

Golden flames ignited, illuminating the darkness and yanking her fiercely back to reality.

The Cangyao Warship, inside a confinement room.

The thickened silence layer isolated this place into an absolutely private space.

Bai Shuzhou half-knelt before the curled-up young woman. Her cool fingertips carried an irresistible strength as they cupped that tear-streaked face.

Without any hesitation, she lowered her head and gently covered those lips that trembled faintly from pain, cracked and bleeding.

“Mm…!”

The first thing she tasted was the thick flavor of iron, mixed with bitter tears. Zhu Yu’s hands, tied tightly behind her back by restraints, suddenly struggled, and a small beastlike whimper spilled from deep in her throat.

She lifted her fragile neck. Blue veins rose faintly, winding like a mountain range of pain.

Her burning gland was red and swollen, covered lightly by two slender fingers. The jade-like cool delicacy of those fingertips carried a strange force, both comforting and suppressing, as they gently rubbed and pressed.

Bai Shuzhou’s silver hair, originally tied high, had now all scattered loose like flowing moonlight. Strand by strand, it fell over Zhu Yu’s shoulders and tangled ambiguously with her sluggish breathing.

The young woman’s most primitive instinct was almost beastlike plunder.

Vines tightly bound Zhu Yu’s arms and abdomen. Their coarse texture made her tremble even more. She bit down heavily.

Sharp canines instantly pierced soft, icy lips. Beads of blood carrying rich rose fragrance stained her tongue.

“Mm…”

Bai Shuzhou’s body stiffened almost imperceptibly. A suppressed, nearly shattered gasp of pain spilled from between their joined lips and teeth.

Her beautiful brows tightened from pain, yet in the depths of those pale blue eyes, even more complicated emotions surged.

Was it endurance?

Or indulgence she herself had not yet noticed?

“Zhu Yu…”

Her cool voice remained steady, yet carried a hoarse breathiness from being bitten, like an undercurrent beneath ice slowly penetrating the young woman’s chaotic consciousness.

“Relax.”

The rose scent carrying soothing power no longer embraced her gently like the tide. Instead, like resilient vines, it wrapped around her layer by layer with unquestionable force.

It tightly bound and enveloped the trembling, violent body in her arms, drawing Zhu Yu into a domain of absolute control.

“Don’t resist. Accept my mental power.”

Warm lips pressed against Zhu Yu’s ear, opening and closing softly. The words she breathed carried a command.

“Be good—”

Under the continuous, powerful kneading of the hand over her gland, and under the domineering yet gentle comfort between lips and teeth, Zhu Yu’s stiff body finally began to relax awkwardly.

A warm, peaceful current, like the purest moonlight, flowed out from where their skin touched.

Bai Shuzhou’s will entered the depths of Zhu Yu’s chaotic sea of consciousness, forceful yet gentle.

The meridians twisted into dead knots, nearly snapping apart, were patiently and irresistibly separated one by one, soothed, and guided back into place by the woman.

The violent pain receded like the tide. In its place came an addictive comfort and ease, the sudden relaxation after extreme exhaustion.

Zhu Yu seemed to fall from purgatory into a warm spring in an instant. Her burning body temperature had yet to drop, yet her body instinctively pressed closer to the only coolness before her like a fledgling.

Her forehead leaned against Bai Shuzhou’s collarbone. Her nose greedily absorbed that cold, rich rose fragrance. From her throat came a tiny whimper, both satisfied and wronged.

“Sister…”

An unconscious murmur, carrying complete dependence and longing.

Very obedient.

A trace of satisfaction appeared between Bai Shuzhou’s weary brows. She pinched Zhu Yu’s cheek.

But this little touch seemed to trigger something. Zhu Yu lifted her pitch-black eyes, wet and glistening, and called again in a low voice:

“Sister.”

Softly.

Like a tender shoot breaking through soil.

Just before the storm was about to descend, warm woody fragrance covered everything. It pierced through the faint clear wind with a pure, powerful force, suddenly surging out from deep within the young woman’s body without warning.

This was Zhu Yu’s true pheromone scent.

Bai Shuzhou froze slightly. She clearly sensed some dangerous change taking place in Zhu Yu and instinctively wanted to pull away.

Too late.

The pale golden mental power that had originally been docile and obedient took the initiative to wrap around the vines. In an instant, the world turned upside down.

Zhu Yu had somehow broken free of the handcuffs.

She had willingly kept her hands behind her back.

Until this moment.

“Mm!”

A short gasp of shock spilled from Bai Shuzhou’s lips. She, who had been in control of everything just moments ago, was suddenly suppressed without warning. The icy cabin wall pressed against her back, and her silver hair scattered messily.

Zhu Yu had one hand protecting the back of her head.

It was also like a kind of restraint.

…Had she been waiting for this moment all along?

“Zhu Yu,” the woman rebuked coldly. “You are not allowed to mark me…!”

Roses were growing wildly. Dark green vines had already wrapped around Zhu Yu’s neck, thorns pressing between the Alpha’s glands. If she dared cross the line, Bai Shuzhou would pierce her without mercy and churn her mental power into a mess.

An unprecedented throb spread from the tip of her heart. The feeling of losing control was awful.

Bai Shuzhou bit her lip, clearly sensing that her own pheromones were also being stirred by the warm woody fragrance, trembling as they gathered into dewdrops.

Zhu Yu was hiding far too many secrets. The concentration of her pheromones was still constantly rising, merging with the rose scent and growing wildly.

As if their pheromones had been born to entangle and coexist.

Bai Shuzhou gritted her teeth. Taking advantage of the young woman lowering her head, she wrapped one arm around her neck.

Her nails sank into skin. She gripped Zhu Yu’s gland like seizing reins or a collar.

An out-of-control Alpha was dangerous. Bai Shuzhou hated most this sense of powerlessness brought by such a vast physical difference.

Zhu Yu slowly lowered her head. Her warm breath, carrying the fresh scent of wood, carefully and deeply dependently brushed against Bai Shuzhou’s sensitive ear.

She clearly possessed overwhelming strength. Clearly, she could easily seize more, go deeper…

Yet at the final inch, she abruptly stopped all her desire.

She only gently pressed her forehead against Bai Shuzhou’s.

In an instant, it was as though every star in the universe stopped flickering and held its breath.

The young woman’s breathing was burning hot and rapid, carrying the unique magnetism and faint hoarseness of a sensitive period.

“Sister…”

“I really like you.”

Almost clumsily, one word at a time, she held out the hottest secret in her heart.

“Do you like me?”

A brief pause, as long and tormenting as a century.

“Can you… like me?”

The knuckles of the woman gripping Zhu Yu’s gland had turned faintly blue-white from being too tense, yet she could no longer use even half a bit of strength.

Beneath the Alranka silk, a damp mark gradually seeped through, spreading into a small dark patch.